WATEETON
567
WATKINSON
Qvisible means, till the martyr signed it with the
TOSS.
Challoner, Missionary Priests (London, 1781-2); Pollen, English Martyrs ISSi-lSOS in C. R. S., V (London, 1908) ; Foley, '>iary and Pilgrim Book of English College, Rome (London, 1880); ^ouay Diaries (London, 1878) ; Holtbt, Account of Three Martyrs Q M0RRI8, Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, series III (London, 877).
Edwin Burton.
Waterton, Charles, naturalist and explorer, b. n Walton Hall near Wakefickl, Yorkshire, England, n 17S2; d. there in 1S05. Hi.s familj', originally from Lincolnshire, had migrated to Yorkshii'e several centuries before and its pre-Reformation members n many cases were eminent in the service of the jtate. Staunch RoyaUsts as well as Catholics, they luffered from England's changes of faith and alle- giance, and by the constant exactions and fines of penal imes they became much impoverished. Charles's nother was a Bcdingfeld of Inburgh, Norfolk, grand- laughter of Sir Henry, the third baronet, and his mternal grandmother was Mary More, seventh in lescent from Blessed Thomas, the martyred chan-
- eUor.
In his tenth year Charles was sent to a small I'athohc school at Tudhoe, near Durham, the first i^nglish home of Mr. Jutine Ushaw. Thence he jassed in 1796 for his higher studies to Stonyhurst. ilis four years' stay at Stonyhurst, while it succeeded n making him a good Latin scholar, developed still nore his early passion for natural history, especially or the study of ornithologi.'. "By a mutual under- itanding, he writes in his 'Autobiography', I was con- idercd rat-catcher to the establishment, and also ox-taker, foumart -killer, and cross-bow charger at he time when the young rooks were fledged. . . I oUowed up my calling with great success. The •ennin disappeared by the dozen; the books were noderately well thumbed; and according to my notion if things, all went on perfectly right." On leaving chool the Peace of Amiens in 1802 gave him his first hance of travelling and lie went to Spain, where two if his maternal uncles had settled. He was with them n Malaga when the great plague occurred there, and, hough he escaped infection, he returned somewhat mpaired in health. In search of a warmer climate le undertook the administration of his uncles' estates n British Guiana and resided in CJeorgetown from 804 to 1812, with occasional visits home. Mean- while, in 1806 his father died, leaving him heir to Valton Hall. After handing over the West Indian states to their owners, he determined to start x-ploring the hinterland of Guiana and at intervals if four years, beginning with 1812, he made the four idventurous expeditions which are described in the rell-known "Wanderings in South America". For his work his long residence in the colony had rendered lim exceptionally weU equipped and he made very 'aluable additions to the sum of human knowledge oncerning the fauna, especially the bird life, of that )ortion of the tropics. The main object of his first ourney was to collect as large a quantity as possible if the deadly "wourali" poison, which induces imme- liate and profound quiescence, and would therefore, t wa.s ho])ed, prove a specific against the tetanus of lydrophobia. That result has not been attained; lowever, Waterton's experiments with the poison )roved that its deaflly effects could be neutralized by
- eeping up artificial respiration during the period of
ts activity. His other ser\nces to science have been nore valuable and permanent. By combining an inrivalled knowledge of the li\nng habits of the wild reation with a new method of preserving skins, he aised (to use the words of Dr. Moore) "taxidermy rom a sorr>; handicraft to an art". In 1829. five •e.ars after his last ex-pedition, Waterton married the Laughter of an old Demerara friend, who, however lied within a year, leaving him with one child, a boy.
well known later on as an antiquary. His subsequent
travels, of which he has given a summary in the
"Autobiography", were confined to the Continent,
but during his last sojourn in the New World he
twice visited the States, considering, as he said, no
EngUshman's education complete till he had been
there.
After surviving so many perils abroad, Waterton met his death in his own park through st umbling over a briar-root. This was in 1865 when he was in his eighty-third year: an internal injury resulted in his death in a few hours. He was so iniu"ed to hardship that it had become second nature. For the last thirty years of his life he alwaj's slept on bare boards, WTapped in a blanket and with a block of oak for a pillow. From this couch he rose at midnight to spend a few minutes in the chapel; he rose again at thi-ee o'clock, made his fire and lay down again till half -past, when he dressed and spent an hour at prayer. Breakfast followed a further three hours' work or reading, and the rest of the day was spent about his estate in the business of a country gentleman. He had walled in the park and forbade any destruction of wild life within its bounds, so that it became a perfect paradise of animated nature. His charity to the poor was constant and unostentatious, and his per- sonal piety unaffected and deep. His faith was so staunch and undisguised that it was continually mani- fested, even in the most unexpected places, in his scientific papers. Of his strength of will and daunt- less courage his own WTitings give much indirect evi- dence, for he made generally light of his exploits. The value of his work was recognized by Darwin, who visited him at Walton Hall, and his friend Thackeray, in a well-known ])as.sage in "The Newconies", testi- fies to his moral worth: "I could not but feel a kind- ness and admiration for the good man. I know his works are made to square with his faith; that he dines on a crust, lives as chastely as a hermit, and gives his all to the poor."
Besides the author*s works mentioned above and his Essays on Natural History, ed. Moore, see: Gerard, Stonyhurst Cen* tenary Record, viii; Moore, in Diet. Nat, Biog., 3. v.
Joseph Keating.
Waterworth, James, b. at St. Helen's, Lan- cashire, 1806; d. at Old Hall, Newark, 28 March, 1876. Educated at Stonyhurst, he went subsequently to Montrouge to enter the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, in which he did not long continue. Sent by Bishop Milner to study for the priesthood at the Enghsh College, Rome, he there devoted himself to theology, and especially patrology, so ardently that he often worked sixteen hours a day. At the end of his course he was recalled to Oscott, where he was ordained, and where he taught theology from 18.30 to 1833. He then went to assist Rev. J. Yver at New- ark, where he spent over forty years as a missionary priest, still continuing his studies of the Fathers. Within a year or two he was placed in sole charge of the mission. In 1.S.34 he published a pamphlet de- fending Berington and Kirk's work, "The Faith of Catholics", against the attack of an Anglican clergj'- man called Pope; and twelve years later he published a greatly enlarged edition in three volumes. He also published a translation of the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent (1848) and of Veron's "Rule of Faith" (18.33). His "Digest of the Penal Laws affecting Roman Catholics" is another useful work. His latest book, "England and Rome" (1854), was on the relations of the popes to England. He was made canon of Nottingham in 1.8.52, doctor of divinity in 1860, and provost of that dioce.se in 1861.
Tablet (8 and 1.5 April, 1876); Oscotian (July, 1888); GlLlx>w, Bibl, Did. Eng. Calk., s.w. Berington and Kirk; Catholic Direc- tory, (1830-76).
Edwin Burton. Watkinson, Robert, Venerable. See Tich- BORNE, Thomas, Venerable.
